Man sentenced in fatal boat crash

Tuesday

Nov 27, 2007 at 12:01 AMNov 27, 2007 at 8:44 PM

Keir Weimer walked into Herkimer County Court Monday morning carrying a single red rose in memory of the 20-year-old Syracuse woman he killed during a drunken July 2006 boat crash on Fourth Lake. Weimer was sentenced to 2 to 6 years in prison.

Rocco LaDuca

Keir Weimer walked into Herkimer County Court Monday morning carrying a single red rose in memory of the 20-year-old Syracuse woman he killed during a drunken July 2006 boat crash on Fourth Lake.

Like everyone sitting behind Weimer in the courtroom that morning, he had grabbed the flower from a bucket of roses left at the door by the victim's loved ones.

Moments before Weimer was sentenced to 2 to 6 years in prison for causing Tiffany Heitkamp's death, her mother, Mary Jo France, asked Weimer to encourage people to never make the same mistake he did.

And with the rose at his side, Weimer, 24, of Manlius, told Heitkamp's family his guilt would force him to become a better person.

“All I can do now is make sure that this tragedy didn't happen in vain and that maybe by leading a more purposeful and productive life, I can contribute positively to both society and to those around me whom I love,” Weimer said.

“I can only make a sincere effort, both while incarcerated and upon release, to control the things that I can and to find some greater meaning or significance as to why I'm still here, and she is not,” he finished.

France had told Weimer, “You have given me the most unbearable pain any mother can endure.”

Still, she had one more message for Weimer.

“I would like you to know that I have forgiven,” France said.

Only time will tell, however, whether Weimer learned from his mistake, Herkimer County District Attorney John Crandall said after the sentencing.

Weimer pleaded guilty Sept. 10 to vehicular manslaughter.

On Monday, Weimer's attorney, George Aney, said his client's remorse was genuine.

“When he says he's sorry, he means it,” Aney said.

Weimer, however, only admitted his guilt after months of Aney insisting that the deadly boating crash was “purely an accident” that could have happened to anyone that night.

According to prosecutors, Weimer had a 0.10 percent blood-alcohol content level several hours after the fatal crash, police have said.

Weimer and five passengers had just left Daiker's Inn on Fourth Lake and were heading to the Weimer family's camp when Weimer slammed his 19-foot Four Winns speedboat into Alger Island around 2 a.m. July 23, 2006.

Heitkamp was thrown from the boat on impact, and four other passengers were injured.

Aney has said Weimer misjudged where the shoreline was because there were no campfires or lights to illuminate the island's perimeter.

But only after considering the prosecution's evidence and the unpredictability of a trial did Weimer plead guilty, Aney said.

Weimer already has been charged with two other drunk-driving incidents, and a May 7 DWI charge was still pending in East Syracuse at the time of last summer's deadly boating accident.

Still, Aney also took issue with previous portrayals of Weimer as a “spoiled, irresponsible rich brat with toys on Fourth Lake.”

“He's a fine, fine person, and I can vouch for that, although I'm not supposed to in a courtroom,” Aney told Judge Patrick Kirk.

Kirk agreed that Weimer's words were heartfelt, but he recalled something that Heitkamp's mother had just said in court as well.

“'You took away the joy of being a grandparent,'” Kirk quoted France.

“That one struck home,” Kirk said of the comment. “You remember that, and that will honor her memory and what you took away.”